Geographical Tongue

[Guest guest]

Hi, Somewhere deep inside my memory files I recall hearing about

the " geographical tongue " , but the memory isn't clear. Anyone heard

of this? I'm pretty sure that I read that this type of tongue is

misleading because it looks like massive yin deficiency but it is

actually something they are born with that does not indicate yin

deficiency. Anyone else heard of this and know anything?

 

I have a patient with kidney deficient low back pain that has a very

red tongue with lots and lots of cracks all over it and no coating,

but he doesn't really seem that yin deficient otherwise. He's a bit

on the chubby side and his low back feels cool to the touch and his

personality is very laid back (not at all a yin deficient type of

personality). However, he does have red cheeks and he does report

being bothered by heat and not bothered by cold...but that may be

from dampheat rather than yin xu heat--he has some dampheat

symptoms. His low back pain is clearly kidney deficient, but I'm

thinking SI 3/UB 62 would be better for him than Lu 7/K 6...but by

looking at his tongue I'd focus on tonifying kidney yin.

 

Thanks for any thoughts on this---

 

Laura